New Year recap

Dec. 31- I went to the COEX and spent 15 minutes trying to find the exhibition hall. For W10,000 I got to see the Seoul Doll Fair. It was like nothing I could have imagined- there were fashion dolls, baby dolls, Bisque dolls, vintage dolls, sculpted dolls, exotic dolls, cutesy dolls, dolls based on historical figures and paintings, paintings and photographs of dolls, anthropomorphic dolls, figurines, celebrity dolls and busts, military dolls galore, movie dolls, cloth dolls, teddy bears large and small, life-sized in traditional Korean clothes, teddy bears in scrubs in an operating room, dollhouses, miniatures, and zombie dolls! There was even a collection of mechanical roller skating baby dolls just like the one I used to have as a child. Try as I might, I simply could not hold back my gasps and squeals of delight.

I got to stuff my own teddy bear and gave him eyes and a face.

I got business cards for every exhibit that I could, most of which have web sites. And with a little luck I may manage to navigate them in Korean. Sorry Mom, but I think my collection may explode after another paycheck or two.

Remembering it had been 17F during the day and was dark by the time I left the exhibit, I scrapped the ice skating idea yet again and bummed around the COEX mall for a bit. I decided around 8 that I was too tired to stay out all night and caught a train home around 9. Only I caught it going the wrong way and did not realize this until the last stop. This effectively tripled what should have been about an hour ride home, so that I was traversing a mile of icewalks when the clock struck midnight. Bah freaking humbug.